Our mission is to help students become biblically competent, academically proficient, spiritually formed and culturally engaged servant leaders, shaped to be a transforming force in the church, community and world.

Dr. Deborah Miller, Multnomah's teacher education program director, spearheaded the project, submitting the proposal to TSPC on May 18, 2007. "The usual blood, sweat, and tears with major doses of prayer [went into the planning]," Dr. Miller said.

The MAT program is a 42 semester-credit program that will prepare students to be licensed educators in the state of Oregon at the early childhood and elementary authorization levels. The program runs in four consecutive terms beginning spring term. Upon completing the program, students will be able to teach preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school.

To successfully apply for the program, students must have filled out and submitted a TSPC character reference form, have been fingerprinted, and have submitted scores for the Multiple Subjects Examination and the Oregon Educator Licensure Assessments tests. Students also have to complete 16 semester hours of Bible or Theology from an approved institution to graduate with the MAT degree and be recommended for state licensure.

"The MAT is especially suitable for Multnomah graduates because it offers a master's degree in four terms, since they have more than the required number of Bible and Theology credits," Dr. Miller said. "The Bible component is important to us at Multnomah because we feel it is important to produce educators that have a biblical worldview, no matter what education setting in which [the students] choose to work after graduation."

A major step toward certified teaching programs occurred when Multnomah received regional accreditation from NWCCU during the summer of 2006. Regional accreditation allows Multnomah to offer education programs that provide special licensure, such as the MAT and the B.S. in Elementary Education, which begins in the fall term of 2007.